See where 68 credit card skimmers were found in Michigan

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In cities and towns across lower Michigan, officials have found 68 credit card skimmers, installed by scammers meaning to steal personal information.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture, tasked with responding to service stations and removing the devices, provided MLive a list of locations where skimmers have been found since August 2015, when the first one was found during a routine inspection.

Skimmers can be installed in seconds and are not visible on the outside of the pump after scammers open pumps using keys and place the illegal devices inside, the Michigan Department of Agriculture said.

The devices copy customer card information so the scammers can make fraudulent purchases.

Jennifer Holton, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Agriculture, cautioned against publishing details of the list, noting that some of the cases are more than a year old, the gas stations were victims and the skimmers have already been removed.

However, the state does not have a way of finding out if information was breached or notifying people who may have been affected, she said.

MLive is publishing the list of where skimmers were found and removed to let customers know where their information may have been compromised.

The Michigan Department of Agriculture, tasked with responding to service stations and removing the devices, provided MLive a list of locations where skimmers have been found since August 2015, when the first one was found during a routine inspection.

Skimmers can be installed in seconds and are not visible on the outside of the pump after scammers open pumps using keys and place the illegal devices inside, the Michigan Department of Agriculture said.

The devices copy customer card information so the scammers can make fraudulent purchases.

Jennifer Holton, spokeswoman for the Michigan Department of Agriculture, cautioned against publishing details of the list, noting that some of the cases are more than a year old, the gas stations were victims and the skimmers have already been removed.

However, the state does not have a way of finding out if information was breached or notifying people who may have been affected, she said.

MLive is publishing the list of where skimmers were found and removed to let customers know where their information may have been compromised.

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It includes 68 gas stations from Flint to Grand Rapids, and Benton Harbor to Harrison. Stations include BP, Marathon, Admiral and others.

Some of the stations on the list indicate police departments, business employees, or state officials found the skimmers, and some of the cases indicate people were caught on security cameras, possibly related to the cases.

After a skimmer found at a Detroit gas station on April 27, compromised cards were later used in Florida, according to the list.

The latest incident recorded was Aug. 23 at a F&E Oil station in Dearborn.

Holton said people who purchase gasoline by credit or debit card should watch their bank activity and immediately notify the financial institution in the event of any suspicious activity.

Holton said people should not avoid the stores just because there were skimmers found there, and that anywhere a skimmer was found it was promptly removed.